The term Continuing Anglican refers to a number of churches in various countries that have been formed outside of the Anglican Communion. These churches generally believe that "traditional" forms of Anglican faith and worship have been unacceptably revised or abandoned within some Anglican Communion churches in recent decades. They claim, therefore, that they are "continuing" the traditional forms of Anglicanism. The modern Continuing movement principally dates to the Congress of St. Louis in the United States in 1977, at which participants rejected changes that had been made in the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer and the ordination of women. More recent changes in the North American churches of the Anglican Communion, such as the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the priesthood and episcopate, have created further separations.

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Continuing churches have generally been formed by clergy and lay people who left churches belonging to the Anglican Communion. These particular Anglican Communion churches are charged by the Continuing movement with being greatly compromised by adopting increasingly secular cultural standards and liberal approaches to theology.[1] Many Continuing Anglicans believe that the faith of some churches in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury has become either unorthodox or un-Christian and therefore have not sought to also be in communion with them.[2][3] Although the term Anglican usually refers to those churches in communion with the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury, many Continuing churches, particularly those in the United States, use the term Anglican to differentiate themselves from the Episcopal Church. Many continuing Anglicans feel that they are remaining true to historic Anglican tradition and Biblical Christianity, and it is the Episcopal Church in the United States as well as other parts of the Anglican Communion which have become heretical[4].

Use of the Authorized Version of Holy Scripture (also known as the King James Version) during worship is also a common feature. This is done for many reasons, not the least of which are aesthetics, and in protest against what some claim to be liberal theology that updated versions such as the New Revised Standard Version are believed to embody[5].

Although expected to be the third bishop participating in Doren's consecration, the Right Reverend Mark Pae of the Anglican Church of Korea sent a letter of consent instead. This development left the new group open to charges of violating the customs of apostolic succession, in which three bishops customarily are present, although only one is necessary for a valid consecration.

The newly-consecrated Bishop Doren then joined with Bishops Chambers and Pagtakhan in consecrating as bishops the Reverend James Mote, the Reverend Robert Morse, and the Reverend Francis Watterson. Bishop Watterson left the movement shortly afterward and became a Roman Catholic priest.

The original generation of Continuing parishes in the U.S. were found mainly in metropolitan areas. Since the late 1990s, a number have appeared in smaller communities, often as a result of a division in the town's existing Episcopal parish(es) or mission(s). The 2007/08 Directory of Traditional Anglican and Episcopal Parishes, published by The Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen,[2] contained information on over 900 parishes affiliated with either the Continuing Anglican churches or the Anglican realignment movement.

Another regional association facilitating increased dialogue and fellowship opportunities is Common Cause Appalachia,
to which some continuing Anglican churches in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee belong.[7]

The principles of the Affirmation of St. Louis and, to a lesser extent, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, provide some basis for unity in the movement, but the jurisdictions are numerous, usually quite small in membership and often splinter and recombine. Reports put the number of jurisdictions at somewhere between 20 and 40, mostly in North America, but fewer than a dozen of the churches popularly called "Continuing churches" can be traced back to the meeting in St. Louis.

Other Anglican bodies not in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury include the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United States, which was formed in 1873 in opposition to the advance of Anglo-Catholicism in the Episcopal Church; the Free Church of England, which was founded in England in 1844 for similar reasons; the Anglican Orthodox Church, another Low Church body that was founded in 1963, and the Orthodox Anglican Communion founded by the AOC in 1967. These churches are not universally considered to be Continuing Anglican churches because they were founded prior to the beginning of the Continuing Anglican movement of the 1970s; however, they relate to the Continuing churches on a number of levels and have similarities in beliefs and practices.

The following is a list of church bodies commonly called "Continuing Anglican", with the approximate number of North American parishes shown in parentheses. Some also have affiliated churches in other countries.

List of churches not in the Anglican Communion, at anglicansonline.org. Includes weblinks for most of the Continuing Anglican churches and some other non-Anglican churches. Some of those listed are now defunct.